Sparks Fly (3 page)

She gestured to the papers and boxes stuffed and scattered throughout the large room.”It must be hard to work well surrounded by so much clutter.”

He slumped into a leather chair. “Even my executive assistant refused to come help clean it up.”

“I don't blame her,” Angelina said, surprised to see the powerful executive suddenly look so lost and forlorn.

“Let’s talk about clutter.”

Will grimaced. “Haven’t we already gone over that? My office is a dump.”

Angelina leaned in closer, as if she was about to divulge an important secret. Will found that he was leaning towards her in anticipation.

“In Feng Shui there is no place to hide. You can’t clear one area of your life by stuffing everything into another area.”

“You’re losing me.”

“Pretend you took all of this stuff and moved it into your garage.”

“Why didn’t I think of that?”

Angelina gave Will a mock frown. “All that does is move the congestion to your garage. It blocks the flow of your energy in your life no matter where it is.”

“But I need everything in here.”

Angelina nodded. “Maybe. But then, maybe not. Tell me, when’s the last time you went through every single book and paper and file and asked yourself, Do I really need this?”

“You can’t be serious.”

Angelina stared at him, unblinking. “I am. When was the last time?”

“Never. Who has the time for that?”

“Actually, it can be kind of fun.”

Will laughed out loud at that.

Angelina protested, “I’m serious!” but a smile was stealing across her face. “Well, maybe fun is overstating it, but there can be amazing benefits to putting the work in.”

“Name one.”

“Easy. Once you get rid of everything you don’t need or love, you will have finally made room for all of the good things you do want.”

He looked around the room contemplatively. Now that she had pointed it out, he couldn’t escape the heavy sense of chaos that pervaded his office.

“Hmm. What you’re saying is actually making sense.”

Angelina grinned. “I’m so glad to hear you say that.” She tried to move one of his boxes with her foot, but it was so heavy it hardly budged. “What have you got in here? Your rock collection?”

“Open it up.”

Cautiously, Angelina peeled back the top of the box and grabbed a heavy rectangular green slab of metal, chock full of silver wires. “What’s this?”

“It’s a test interface board. I used to design them.” He walked over and picked one up. “I haven’t seen one up close in a long time.” Years fell away as Will reverently ran his fingers over the board.

At twenty-one he had dutifully plunged into engineering, giving up his far fetched dream of being a painter. Designing circuitry was never as powerful a satisfaction as creating art, but at least he made good money.

“I can’t believe you even know what one of these things does, let alone designed it. I do have one question for you, though.”

“Ask away.” Will hoped that he could impress her again.

“Do you really need so many of them?” Angelina peered into the box. “There are probably twenty in here.”

So much for impressing her with his profound knowledge of circuitry.

“In any case, before I go I should tell you that your cluttered office sits smack dab in your Reputation area. It’s probably affecting your relationships with your staff and customers.”

“How the heck do you know about the problems I’ve been having with my company? Did Susan tell you?”

Angelina looked surprised by his outburst. “No, we didn’t speak about your work at all.”

“Are you psychic or something?”

“Trust me, I’m not the least bit psychic.”

He could see her scanning the room for a semi-clear pathway so she could escape.

“So, how about you give me a call in about a month and I’ll come back to see how things are going?”

“A month?” He couldn’t go a whole month without seeing her. “I don't think a month will work.”

“I could give you two if that would be easier to fit into your schedule.” Angelina pulled her organizer out of her briefcase to write down the appointment.

“What I’m trying to say is that I’d like to take you out. On a date.”

“A date?” She looked horrified.

“Yes, Angelina. A date.”

“No thank you.”

The words were barely out of her mouth before she fled the room, ran down his hall, out of his front door, and drove away.

“So we almost kissed in his foyer. Big deal.”

Angelina's friend Krista plopped her full coffee cup back into the saucer. “Big deal? You show up at this guy’s house to do a consultation and he almost starts making out with you. That is definitely a big deal.” Krista raised an eyebrow and gave Angelina a knowing look. “You wish he had, don't you?”

Angelina shook her head, saying “No” even as the word
“Yes”
galloped across her brain.

“Liar.”

Angelina sipped her mint tea, affectionately watching Krista over the rim of her cup. They had been best friends for ten years, two totally different women who perfectly complimented each other.

“Besides, it doesn’t matter, because I’m not going out with him.”

Krista clanked her cup down again. “Go out with him? Are you saying he asked you out? I swear you always leave the good stuff out of your stories.” She frowned. “So, why aren't you going?

He's cute, right?”

Cute didn't even begin to cover it, Angelina thought as she said, “Yes, but he's my client. I don't date clients.”

Krista waved her hand in the air as if that reason were completely irrelevant. “What exactly did you say when he asked you out?”

Angelina grimaced at the memory. “I said no thank you.”

And then she'd run.

Krista rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe it. A hot guy, who I’m assuming probably has a good job and a nice house, asks you out and you act like he just offered you a refill.”

Angelina defended herself. “It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.” Plus, she'd been freaking out. Big time.

“I’m not gonna let you off the hook this time. You need someone to tell it to you like it is, whether you want to hear it or not. First rule of Romance: When a gorgeous, eligible guy asks you out, the answer is ‘Yes,’ not ‘No thank you.’”

Angelina opened her mouth to protest.

“No buts,” Krista said firmly. Still, she softened her tone as she reached out to take Angelina’s hand. “I’m just telling you this because you’re my best friend in the whole world and I want you to be happy.”

“I know that. It’s just...”

She wished she could read her fortune in the tea leaves in the bottom of her cup.

“I know change is good, but remember what a fool I made of myself when I was twenty-one?”

“Of course I remember. I was mopping up your tears for months. But it’s been years since that jerk used you. If you ask me, you’ve completely forgotten how to have fun, Ang.”

“I’m too busy to have fun.”

“Exactly my point, honey. Look at me, I work sixty hours a week on billion dollar cases, but I know how to have fun.”

Angelina retorted, “Sleeping around indiscriminately isn’t my idea of fun.”

“Look, one night of sex is no big deal. And it’ll even fit into your schedule,” Krista added with a grin. “Your hunky client sounds like the perfect guy to break you out of your rut.”

“No way.”

“Okay then, how about at least kissing him?”

Angelina felt herself flush at the thought of kissing Will. “I don't-”

Krista cut her off. “Give me one good reason why not.”

Angelina lowered her voice. “First of all, his ex-wife hired me to get him back.”

“Oh,” Krista murmured, obviously titillated by the new bit of information.

“Second, as I said before, I don't mix business with pleasure.”

“You never know. It could be fun.”

“And third, CEO’s are not my type.”

Krista held her hands up in defeat. “Fine. You and your never-ending logic have defeated me.

Just think about it, Ang. You need to have some fun before you dry up completely. Speaking of fun, what are you doing tomorrow afternoon? There’s a shoe sale at Nordstrom that can’t be missed.”

Glad for the change of subject, Angelina reached into her briefcase for her organizer to check her calendar. She knew she should start using the calendar on her cell phone, but she liked her old fashioned pen and paper system.

“Oh no. I left my day-timer at Will’s house.”

“Looks like you’re going to have to go back to his house to get it, huh?” Krista folded her hands under her chin and fluttered her lashes. “Or wait for him to bring it to you,” she added with a naughty undertone.

* * *

Will couldn’t concentrate. No matter what he was working on, his mind kept going back to his greatest failure to date.

Never before had a woman turned and run from him. In all of his previous experiences with the opposite sex, he'd hardly had to expend any effort at all to get women to go out with him. The women he usually dated didn’t look much further than his bank account, but Angelina clearly couldn’t have cared less how many diamonds or houses he could buy her.

Maybe if I clean up the mess in my office, she’ll come knocking on my door.

It was a ridiculous thought, but it kept playing like a broken record in his head, so he gave up and told his secretary to reschedule his meetings for the rest of the day.

He headed for the side door of his house before remembering that Angelina had told him to use the front door for better energy, or something like that.

He groaned. One visit from a Feng Shui consultant and he needed to see a good therapist.

Nonetheless, he walked around to his front door. Once inside, he headed down the hall to his office. Picking his way into the middle of the room, he sat down on the floor and reached into the box directly in front of him.

Amazingly, as he threw away clutter than had been piling up for years, the voices clogging his brain shut up for the first time all day.

* * *

Hoping to get this over and done with as quickly as possible, Angelina marched up to Will’s front door and rang the door bell.

When Will opened the door he let out a low whistle. “I can’t believe it works this fast.”

Not having any clue what he was talking about, Angelina got straight to the point. “I left my organizer in your office. I just need to grab it and then I'll get out of your hair.”

Will looked taken aback by her slightly frosty tone. She felt a little bad, but she had her heart to protect.

“I'm glad you're here, Angelina. I’ve got something to show you.”

Following Will to his office, hating how much she liked to hear her name on his lips, she stopped dead in her tracks on the threshold.

“Wow.” The room was spotless and the changed energy was impossible to ignore.

“You like?” Will asked, grinning from ear to ear.

“What an amazing transformation. How did you do it all so fast?”

He shrugged. “I couldn’t concentrate on anything else with the mess in this room hanging over me. The shredder got one heck of a workout today. It’s odd, but I almost feel as if I can breathe better in here now.”

Angelina leaned against the doorway. “That’s exactly how I explain Feng Shui to people who have never heard about it: If you follow the principles, you will feel like you can breathe better throughout your entire house.”

Will rubbed his chin with his left hand. “I really get that now.”

Angelina gave him a soft smile. “I’m glad.” Knowing she had to break the spell Will had over her – and fast! - Angelina picked up her organizer and said, “I should really get going now.”

“Why don’t you join me for a cup of coffee in the kitchen?”

Angelina shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t do caffeine. It makes me weird.”

Will raised an eyebrow and she laughed. “OK, so it makes me weird-er. Anyway, thanks, but no.”

“How about decaf?”

For some crazy reason, Angelina couldn’t resist the look in his eyes. “Just one cup.” Wagging her finger at him she warned, “And don’t you try anything funny like mixing caffeine in. I won’t be responsible for the consequences.”

He held his right hand over his heart and mock-solemnly said, “You have my word. No funny business.”

Angelina pulled up one of the stools to his kitchen island, while Will reached in the cupboard next to the sink for the coffee beans.

She had always had a thing for tall, well-built men, which seemed particularly unfortunate right now, considering Will was off limits in every way.

* * *

From the moment Angelina had walked through his front door, Will had been struck by not just her beauty, but her spirit and intelligence, as well.

The truth was, he had never felt this way about his ex-wife, Susan. Marrying her had been, quite simply, the right thing to do: Get an MBA, start a successful company, marry a good-looking blonde.

“Angelina,” he said, “do you Feng Shui boats?”

She looked surprised by his request, but she nodded.

“I'd like you to take a look at my boat in San Francisco this Saturday.”

“I already have plans with my friend on Saturday.”

“Bring her with you,” Will insisted, his palms sweating like he was a thirteen year old boy with pimples asking out the most popular girl in class. “We’ll cruise out to Angel Island and then maybe drop the kayaks in and row around. While we’re at it, we’ll get some Feng Shui done.”

He held his breath until she – finally! - said, “Yes.”

Saturday morning, Angelina woke up early and did her usual four-mile walk, hoping to work off some of her nervous energy.

She should have never agreed to this consultation on Will's boat. But Krista's words -
You need
to have some fun before you dry up completely -
had been playing in her head like a broken record.

After her shower, she stood in her closet wondering what the heck she should wear. Nothing seemed appropriate. Frustrated, as the clock ticked closer to 9 am, she put on her favorite jeans and a white scoop neck t-shirt. Figuring it might be cold or windy out on the bay, she also pulled out a red sweatshirt and a jacket. Topping off the whole outfit with red tennis shoes, she looked in the mirror and declared herself ready to sail.